Two goals in the opening minute showed Thursday night’s hockey game was going to be a high-scoring one. It didn’t foreshadow how one-sided it would end up.

Indiana scored 27 seconds into the game only to allow a goal 10 seconds later, but the Indians broke out midway through the first period and pulled away for a 16-4 win over Greensburg Central Catholic in a PIHL Open Division Section 3 game Thursday night at S&T Bank Arena.

Ethan Boyer’s goal 10:56 into the first gave Indiana (5-0) the lead back and started an offensive barrage. Indiana scored its second-most goals in a game since it returned to varsity hockey two years ago and its most since a 17-2 win at Ringgold last season on Jan. 24.

“That second goal just changed the outcome of the game, the timing of it,” Indiana coach Dom Glavach said. “At that point Central got out of their system. They started to press a bit, which opened up the ice even more for us, and we’ve got guys that can finish and the score really was indicative of that. Once the third one came, the fourth one came and they just started to roll like raindrops.”

Jess Bartholow registered his third hat trick in five games this season and had a six-point night. Defenseman T.J. Petro had two goals and four assists to also get six points, and Camden Lydick had four assists and five points.

“We were definitely moving personnel around once the ice slanted,” the coach said. “Early on in the game everyone was contributing pretty solid defensively, offensively.”

Greensburg Central Catholic, a newcomer to the PIHL Open Division and Section 3, fell to 2-4.

Petro put the Indians on the board 27 seconds into the first period, and the Centurions’ Nicholas Benjamin tied it back up 10 seconds later.

“It was pretty quick,” the coach said. “We scored our first shift of the game and they came right back the very next shift and (Benjamin) just came across our blue line. We gave him a little bit too much space and he beat Zane (McElhenny).”

McElhenny was insulated well, though. Indiana outshot Greensburg Central Catholic 52-16, taking over with Boyer’s first goal of the night. It was the first of four Indiana tallies in a span of a little more than 3 minutes, with Dominick Glavach, Lydick and Bartholow building the Indians’ lead.

“I’m telling you, the first minutes of that game was not an easy battle,” the coach said. “Central Catholic was not going to lie down. That second goal of ours, I don’t know if it was just timing, it took them out of their system. They panicked a little bit, and boy, we took advantage of it. When they got out of their system we really just came on full strength.”

Indiana has a road test at Section 4 leader Carrick (6-1) next Thursday. The Indians visit Connellsville (0-7) on Dec. 16 before returning home to face Hempfield (5-1) on Dec. 19.

“It’s so hard to describe a game that’s going punch-for-punch and then you catch a team, they panic a little bit and you’re able to put a team away,” the coach said. “The positive to that is we were able to battle back from something that was a little bit hard. That’s a progression. We’re into December now, so it’s time to start really taking advantage of when teams make mistakes, and we did that tonight for the most part.”

About IUP — The Crimson Hawks, ranked seventh in NCAA Division II, are coming off a weekend sweep of Sciences (72-59) and Shaw (74-57) in the IRMC Classic. They are 2-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division with wins over Clarion (68-47) and Pitt Johnstown (76-62). T